


Marry Me A Little

by the_nvisiblegirl



Series: Post-Episode Shenanigans (Season 5) [1]
Category: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Ava's POV, Episode Tag, F/F, Fluff, Marriage Proposal, Misunderstandings, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-16
Updated: 2020-03-16
Packaged: 2021-02-28 23:08:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,630
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23175199
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_nvisiblegirl/pseuds/the_nvisiblegirl
Summary: Ava thinks Sara is actually proposing to her after coughing up the engagement ring.
Relationships: Sara Lance/Ava Sharpe
Series: Post-Episode Shenanigans (Season 5) [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1734784
Comments: 10
Kudos: 199





	Marry Me A Little

**Author's Note:**

> I'm back.
> 
> I wanted to write this as soon as I saw the episode but work (and seeing Sara Bareilles absolutely kill it in "Waitress") got in the way so it took me a little longer than I would've liked to finish.
> 
> I think I'm actually with Caity and Jes on this one: I don't necessarily want them to get married on the show. But I wouldn't hate it if the show went there. This is... something in-between. A kind of not-proposal proposal. Angst. Fluff. Avalance being cute.
> 
> (And yes, I will be updating "Mrs. & Mrs. Lance" soon as well. Now that pretty much all UK theaters got shut down I suddenly have a lot of time on my hands.)
> 
> Enjoy, punks!

This moment had to be one of the most surreal ones of Ava’s life. True, she’d lived through the whole ordeal with Gary’s nipple, had seen John Constantine drink a jar of Rasputin’s remains in smoothie form, and had been present when a giant Beebo had crushed Mallus. But, somehow, this moment deserved its place at the top of “Seriously Fucked Up Moments in the Life of Ava Sharpe.”

They were in the middle of having dinner with Damien Darhk, of all people (who seemed way too interested in her and Sara’s relationship, if Ava was being honest), pretending to be Nora’s henchwomen in order to allow her to have one nice, normal night with her father—while also trying to turn said father from a grade A demon into your average dad next door through the power of chocolate mousse.

She looked around the table. Sara, who she was still slightly mad at after the whole Wild Dog debacle, was sat across from her, Darkh to her immediate left, and John and Nora—the most unconvincing fake couple in history—at the other end of the table.

Gary had just served dessert and Ava was eating the first spoonful of her chocolate mousse, hoping it would encourage Darhk to finally tuck into his own and get this whole thing over with. Just as she was thinking that it was actually pretty delicious she felt something solid that definitely wasn’t chocolate mousse hit the roof of her mouth and started coughing uncontrollably until that same solid something landed in her hand. She stopped dead in her tracks when she realized exactly what she had just coughed up.

“Wha—what is this? Sara?” she stammered, staring at the object on her palm with a mix of shock and wonder. It was a ring. Well, not just any ring. A diamond ring. An _engagement_ ring.

Ava gasped. Oh God. Sara was proposing. Leave it to her girlfriend to pick the worst possible moment to do it. Not only was the demon who had killed Sara’s sister sitting right next to them, they’d also been in the middle of a pretty serious argument less than five minutes ago: Sara had gotten a job offer in Star City that she neglected to tell Ava about.

In hindsight, though, Ava was more focused on what Sara had said to defend herself: she had wanted her girlfriend to go with her, to settle down together. Permanently. Ava couldn’t deny that her heart had skipped a beat at that admission. They’d been together for two years now and even though they technically lived together, it wasn’t like that had been a well thought out plan instead of just Ava not really having any other options after the Time Bureau was shut down. So Sara making plans to actually settle down with her, _for_ her—even if those plans were largely made behind Ava’s back—really was something Ava thought she'd never see.

It wasn’t exactly that she’d doubted that Sara was in this for the long haul. They were both very much on the same page about theirs being a serious, long-term relationship—they’d not been through nondescript Swedish furniture store hell together for nothing—but still there had always been a part of Ava waiting for the other shoe to drop.

She knew about Sara’s history, about her tendency to seek adventure, her need for freedom. Ava tried to give her space but sometimes it was hard for her not to push Sara, like when she’d first asked her to move in with her. But having Sara take the initiative on anything regarding their future together—having Sara _propose_ to her—meant more to Ava than words could ever possibly express.

“I mean, the timing isn’t ideal and I just almost choked to death on the ring but I guess it’s the thought that counts, right? God, if you’d told me this morning I would be engaged by the end of the day I would have called you crazy. But then it does make sense, doesn’t it? Moving to Star City, settling down, making this official.”

She picked the ring off of her palm with her other hand, studying it with a mix of disbelief and wonder. It was a classic princess cut, quite substantial in size, and almost entirely colorless as well. Sara must have really spent some good money on this. Ava lifted her head to look at her girlfriend. (Well, fiancée.)

“I—” Sara started, glancing from Nora to Constantine to the hallway on her right and then back at the other woman. She looked shocked, panicked—not at all what you would look like if you’d just proposed to your girlfriend. And that’s when it dawned on Ava.

“Oh God, this isn’t for me, is it?”

Sara’s pointed silence was all the confirmation she needed.

“I’m such an idiot,” she whispered, letting the ring drop onto the table in front of her as she pushed her chair back to get the hell out of there because she definitely wasn’t about to have a breakdown in front of Damien Darhk.

“No, babe! Wait!” Sara called out to Ava’s quickly retreating form before she muttered a quiet “fuck” under her breath, getting up as well to chase after her girlfriend.

Luckily she didn’t have to chase for long as Ava had only made it as far as the porch steps she was currently sitting on, head in her hands, looking smaller and more defeated than Sara had ever seen her.

“Ava, hey,” Sara said softly, taking a seat next to her and putting her hand on the taller woman’s lower back in order to offer her some form of comfort.

In an effort to hide the tears of both disappointment and humiliation that were stinging in her eyes and that she was fighting very hard not to let fall, Ava didn’t look up. She wasn’t a crier. She didn’t want to be. But the feelings of hurt and embarrassment at her stupid mistake were so strong that she knew she was fighting a losing battle in that regard, especially with Sara’s hand slowly moving back and forth across her lower back.

Eventually, Ava looked up and locked eyes with Sara, which finally was the last straw. The tears she had tried to hard to hold back fell against her will.

“I thought you were proposing.”

“I know.”

In contrast to her initial reaction, her eyes were soft now. So was her smile. She didn’t look panicked anymore, or mad, or ready to run for the hills. Instead, she looked at Ava with so much love and tenderness that a few more tears made their way down her cheeks.

“I’m so stupid,” Ava muttered, letting her head fall back into her hands.

“No, you’re not.”

For a few moments neither woman said anything. Then:

“I love you, Ava.”

“… but?”

“No ‘but.’ I love you and I want to spend my life with you,” Sara assured her, the hand not currently on Ava’s back moving up to her face and gently moving a loose strand of hair behind her ear. “I know I might not have the greatest track record when it comes to relationships but this is different. _You_ are different.”

Ava looked at her then. Really looked at her. At this amazing woman she still thought she didn’t deserve most days. This amazing woman she could not imagine ever living without again. This amazing woman who loved her, who wanted to be with her. She reached for Sara, taking her hand in her own and intertwining their fingers.

“I love you,” Ava said firmly, pressing a kiss to the side of Sara’s thumb. The shorter woman smiled.

For a while they just sat there on the steps in comfortable silence, holding hands, before Ava admitted, “You know, I never even really wanted to get married before. I never dreamt of the white dress and the perfect ceremony. But seeing that ring I just… I don’t know.”

She really didn’t. In the past, when all her friends would fantasize about their future husbands and wives she’d just sit there pretending she did, too, when in reality she couldn’t have cared less. Maybe she had been too focused on her career, or maybe she had, somewhere in her subconscious, always thought there was no one who’d think it was worth getting married to her anyway. That she was too odd, too difficult. And then Sara had burst into her life and turned everything she thought she’d wanted upside down.

“Do you want me to propose?” Sara asked, sounding more serious than she usually did. Yes, they’d joked about marriage and kids and white picket fences before, but this conversation was different. This one mattered.

“Not because you think you have to.”

That was the one thing Ava had sworn to herself. She loved Sara too much to ever force her into something the other woman did not truly want because she would not be able to bear Sara eventually resenting her for it. Yes, she was headstrong and uncompromising in most aspects of her life—she liked to get her way; but when it came to Sara she was trying to leave all that behind. To be better.

Sara gave the hand still held in hers a firm squeeze. “I _want_ to, though. Eventually.”

“You do?”

“Mhm,” the shorter woman confirmed, absentmindedly playing with Ava’s fingertips in her lap.

Ava’s heart swelled in her chest at the admission. She took her hands from Sara’s lap and used them to frame her face instead before leaning and kissing her almost-fiancée, a sense of calm washing over her because she knew that they would be together, wedding or not.


End file.
